Rhythm
by Sebe
Summary: The last rush to put down Klaus has Damon and Alaric facing just what they can actually stand to lose. Hurt!Damon, protective!Alaric and Stefan.


Author's Notes: Because I've never ever read any of the books this series is based on, but I did read somewhere that Damon turned human at some point. Soooo, this is my melodramatic take on it. Some vague plot used as a foil for hurt!Damon. I'm not an avid watcher so please don't be too harsh, kay? But please review. Enjoy!

As a side note, anyone know of some good hurt!Damon stories that are gen. or Alaric/Damon please send them my way. Protective!Alaric or Stefan is always good too. Also, any good Alaric/Damon with bottom!Damon would be awesome. Thank you!

Summary: The last rush to put down Klaus has Damon and Alaric facing just what they can actually stand to lose. Hurt!Damon, protective!Alaric and Stefan.

**Rhythm**

Damon stood in the thick of the woods, straining to try and hear anything, anyone, around. The girls and Jeremy were behind him, but he couldn't afford to wait for them to catch up, not if this was going to work.

"Ric!" He hissed. And a moment later, "Stefan!"

After a few moments with no answer, no discernable heartbeat or trail of any kind to follow, Damon growled out an angry breath. He picked a direction and just went. It wasn't long before he heard the scuffle. Ahead of him, too far ahead, he could see Klaus closing in on his brother, a bloodied Stefan trying to fight the other off in vain.

Damon got there quicker than even he thought he was capable of. He burst through the tree line, fangs bared. He tore Stefan out of Klaus's clawed grip and stood between them, Stefan recovering and dizzily trying to get his bearings.

"Damon." Klaus looked truly pissed for once instead of smug. "I really am tired of your meddling with my affairs, you know. I have no more chances left to give."

Damon moved with Klaus, keeping himself in front of Stefan as the older vamp circled.

"Don't need any chances. You're gonna die tonight you arrogant dick."

"No witch. No plan. You don't even have a dagger. You have nothing." Klaus sneered, but the attack tonight had done it's job. The Original was off balance. This had to work. Damon could sense Alaric creeping up behind Klaus, dagger in hand. Damon was careful not to let his eyes stray, lest he give away anything, but he smirked at the other vamp.

"Yeah, I've been thinking…I don't really need anything special like that if I tear you into enough pieces."

Klaus narrowed his eyes, but then his expression changed, smug sliding back into place like it had never left. Some of the tension left his shoulders and he cocked his head at Damon, standing still.

"Tell me…" He drolled. "What exactly are you willing to give up to secure my demise, Damon?"

Klaus could hear that pitiful little human behind him, the one this supposedly vicious young vampire actually cared for. Klaus had all the cards in hand, just like always. He remained two moves ahead.

Something that Klaus could deem 'genuine', if he put a word to it, seemed to sweep over Damon's features and the dark haired boy smiled; not smirked, smiled. Self-assured and somehow resigned.

"Everything."

Klaus nodded tightly, pretending to be intrigued.

"Good, good…"

Klaus spun, claws going for Alaric's mid section, determined to see the one Damon held dear dead at his feet. He did so enjoy this kind of misery. And the shock on the history teacher's face was priceless. Did he really think he could sneak up on an Original? The fool.

But then the blonde was gone, replaced with manic blue eyes and a devil's grin. Klaus fingers were wet with blood and he felt the dagger, snatched from the teacher's hand, embed itself in his heart. There were only a handful of moments after that he was aware of: Pain, shock, someone screaming and someone falling, and the bit of satisfaction that came from knowing he'd at least taken that thorn in his side Salvatore down with him.

Alaric saw Klaus fall, skin graying quickly, but he had no time to savor it.

"Damon!"

That bastard…that bastard! He knew the whole time Alaric would never have been able to sneak up on Klaus and he'd pretended to go along with this plan, pretended to accept the loss. Alaric realized with a sick jolt that last night, their last time together, when he thought he'd been saying goodbye to Damon, it had been Damon saying goodbye to him. His compliance with this plan had all been an act put on so they wouldn't know how Damon truly intended this to end.

"Damon!" Alaric turned him on his back and felt weak at the wound to his abdomen. But Damon had had worse, much worse. This was nothing. "Damon?" This was nothing…

"Damon!" Stefan was scrabbling in the dirt, falling all over himself to get to his brother's side. His eyes were wide and wet, but it- no, this was nothing.

"Damon? Damon." Alaric pulled at him, brushed black hair away from Damon's pale face roughly, fingers grasping, tangling in the strands. "Damon…!"

Was that really his voice that broke? Sounding so desperate? But nothing was wrong… Stefan's hands were covering his, ghosting all over his brother frantically, but blue eyes remained closed.

"No. No, no…"

"Stefan." Alaric demanded, throat closing up. "He's not….He's not."

But the heartbreak in Stefan's eyes made him realize he was…Damon was…

Stefan had one hand on his brother's bloodied side, the other covering his own mouth as tears clouded his eyes. He only shook his head, eyes never leaving Damon.

Alaric went still a moment, then moved into action once again.

"No. No, Damon. You dick. Stop this. Wake up. Wake up…wake up! Damon!" He was shaking Damon roughly, angrily, demanding this sick charade to end, dammit! He was peripherally aware of the others beginning to catch up to the scene, gasps and cries around him, but he didn't falter. "Damon!"

A desperate cry wrung from him and he wasn't shaking Damon so hard anymore. He was pawing at the vampire's face, fingers in his hair as he rubbed a thumb over the delicate skin under Damon's eye.

"Wake up…" He said other things that he'd never remember. Nonsense things to make this seem unreal. Stefan had moved closer, forehead resting on Damon's side. Alaric could see his shoulders shaking with sobs, but he was silent in mourning.

No one else dared approach, even Elena seeming to know that this was too close, too raw and horrific for even her to have a place in it. Damon was theirs and theirs alone; brother to one, lover to another. This was their loss and it was no one else's right to mourn as they did.

Minutes passed that may as well have been hours. Alaric dared a look up. Stefan had raised his head a bit, staring at his brother's face in anguish. Elena stood in Bonnie's arms, crying with an equally teary Jeremy beside her. Even the witch looked a bit glassy-eyed.

Alaric looked back to Damon, fingers ghosting so carefully over his eyelids before returning to cup his neck, black hair tickling the back of his hand softly. He bowed his head again, but stopped. He moved his hands more purposefully now.

"Damon?" His voice made Stefan look at him as he pawed at Damon. The younger brother's expression turned even more sorrowful if that was possible, pitying, as he watched Alaric try to rouse his dead lover. Stefan was so worn and wrung out and _done_; he didn't want to deal with the human's pain on top of his own. But Alaric was his responsibility now. He would care for him the same as Damon would have cared for Elena. "Damon?"

"…He's gone, Alaric." Stefan's voice was awful, gritty and hopeless. "He's…sorry…So sorry…"

"No, I-" The teacher turned wide eyes to Stefan. "He has a pulse." At the vampire's disbelieving expression, he growled in frustration, reaching out and grabbing the other's hand. "Feel!"

He pressed Stefan's fingers to Damon's throat and watched the confirmation of what he knew couldn't be. Those awful eyes widened and looked at Alaric, not daring to believe the impossible.

"Damon?" Stefan called softly, cautiously hopeful. "Damon?"

Alaric was less cautious. He shoved at Damon's shoulder, turning him over onto his back.

"Damon!" He demanded, hand on the vampire's unmoving chest. "Damon!"

There was nothing, but he wasn't done. He was well aware of the scared eyes of the younger brother watching him.

"Damon, you ass! Open your eyes! Da-" he stopped, mid rant as scant thoughts caught up. Vampire, pulse, not breathing, not a- "Breathe! Damon. Come on, breathe!" He pressed on the still chest _hard_. "Breathe!"

Damon gasped harshly, like a man drowned. He choked and sputtered and tried to curl up on his side. But Alaric wouldn't have that. Not even thinking, Alaric had the gasping man pulled up against him, Damon's chin on Alaric's shoulder. Ric held him so tight he wasn't altogether sure Damon could get any air no matter how hard he was trying, but he wasn't letting go. All that ran through Alaric's mind was _'Damon, Damon, Damon. Alive. He's alive. He's alive…'_

Damon was as pliable as an infant in the other's hold, exhausted and spent and breathing. He was breathing and Alaric would think about that later because now he didn't care because Damon was _there_. He was there.

Apparently, Alaric wasn't the only one of that mindset because Stefan was on them, arms wrapped around Damon and Alaric both (because Alaric wasn't going anywhere). Squeezing so, so tight that Ric could feel the small shocks of relieved sobs that erupted from the vampire. Face buried in his brother's raven hair, Stefan was murmuring, "Damon. Brother, brother, Damon…"

More things began to come into focus over Alaric's unbridled relief. Damon's choking gasps of air had turned into soft, labored pants against Ric's neck. The fingers of one hand were twisted weakly into the fabric over Alaric's back; the other hand clutching at Stefan's forearm. Alaric could feel dark eyelashes fluttering against his skin and he wanted to look into Damon's eyes, open and vibrant and alive, but he couldn't yet bring himself to pull away even that much.

"How…?" The first word that came to his ears outside of their little circle. Alaric looked up over the brother's heads. Elena stood, tears streaming down her face, but smiling. Jeremy looked happy and shocked, but not as shocked as Bonnie who was staring with her mouth open.

"How?" She tried again, no closer to a solution in her own head. "He stabbed him with that dagger. He was…he's _breathing_…"

There was nothing threatening in her voice, not really, and she didn't look unhappy at the turn of events, but Alaric was maybe feeling just a bit emotionally frayed at this point, okay? He clutched Damon to him even closer, fingers rearranging to get a better grip and catching just a bit of Stefan's shirt too. He glared at the girl, jaw locking, and if he was a vampire, he had no doubt he'd be fanged out.

Bonnie caught his eye and realized that he was warning her off. Her mouth snapped closed and she spoke directly at Alaric, her tone sincere and maybe, just a little hurt.

"I'm not…I'm just…" She trailed off helplessly. "He's breathing. He-He's _human_, Alaric."

Alaric didn't care. He'd think about the 'how's' and 'why's' and the potential consequences later. For now, he had a newly reborn human clutching to him, beginning to murmur Alaric's name softly as his overjoyed younger brother cried and clung and smiled against his sibling's back.

Damon's breathing picked up a steady rhythm and Stefan lost his own pattern.

Alaric held them both.


End file.
